The Best Thing about Rebirth

Well...to be honest, there were a LOT of things that I liked about Rebirth, such a making it possible for Parallax to be blamed on a big yellow buglike entity, so that Hal Jordan could make his dramatic return without being burdened by the fact that he had murdered an awful lot of people. I mean, even if you have miraculously returned from the dead, people tend to REMEMBER being murdered. Some of them even let it rankle.

Rebirth and Parallax also explained why Hal was being such a jerk for so long there, in Volumn II of Green Lantern. Hal had always been the golden boy, and a charmer so it was a bit hard to actually LIKE him when he spent most of his time running around and being a dick.

But what REALLY made me happy, was that Geoff Johns got rid of those goddamned white temples. MAN, I really hated those. Some men look distinguished with white or silver temples, Reed Richards for one, and I think that Jay Garrett looks quite handsome. Even Alan Scott looks nice with a little silver in his hair, not to mention Jason Blood, and that "I, Vampire" guy. Rowr!

But Hal's greying temples just didn't do it for me. It didn't make him look distinguished, it just made him look old. And, as Kalinara so eloquently pointed out in her essay on this very subject, a little creepy. Being a horndog when you're young and dashing may be conceived as charming, and Hal managed to get away with a LOT, but when you are suddenly looking fiftyish and still behaving as though you shouldn't be alone in a room with a woman, it suddenly loses a lot of its appeal.

On the other hand, I suppose the grey temples do serve a purpose. If you read an older Green Lantern issue, and Hal has them, then now you can automatically realize that Hal is going to be a jerk. He was being subtly influenced by Parallax, from the time that he started to go grey, and therefore practically ALL of his assholishness can be attributed to that! Of course Hal was a bit of a jerk before Parallax, but he was a lot more loveable.



Here's a picture of Hal with the grey temples. He practically looks as though he's foaming at the mouth! Of course, being Hal, he's still showing off his assets, while posing with a strategically ripped costume. Influence or not, he's STILL Hal.



And here he is, all neat and clean and Un-Parallaxed! He doesn't have the grey temples anymore! His actions are completely his own! So punching out Batman isn't being dickish, it is just Hal being Hal! No seriously, punching out Batman was Loooooong overdue, and besides, think of the joy that he brought to Guy Gardner's heart.

So what are YOUR favorite reasons for the Rebirth Retcon?